GWT @ IO

Charles Crouch ccrouch at redhat.com
Mon Jul 2 15:25:06 UTC 2012



----- Original Message -----
> 
> Great link. I wasn't aware that Fowler was on a 'state of the
> technology' board so definitely holds some weight there. However I
> think the 'end' is perhaps a bit premature here.  Dart appears to be
> Google's attempt to fix the 'JavaScript running environment'
> problems by building a new language from the ground up that
> i)possesses stronger typing and ii)address many other shortcomings
> present whenever engineering/building applications on top of
> JavaScript.  While both are admirable goals(and if anyone could
> start/pull that off it would be Google), it goes against two pretty
> powerful forces:
>  
> i)Scripting and loosely typed applications are still preferred over
> strongly typed for ease of use and speed of development for web
> applications.  In some sense the stronger typing and the effort to
> comply with such is perceived negatively despite the benefits that
> stronger typing provide in engineering/maintaining these same web
> applications.
> ii)More importantly, JavaScript is a standard that is currently
> supported in all major browsers.  Support for this newer Dart
> 'script' environment replacement would need to a)evolve b)be adopted
> by other major browsers alongside JavaScript(some already opposed to
> Dart), c)appeal to web developers willing to ignore a large audience
> of legacy corporate and lay users still married to JavaScript.

This last point seems huge to me, unless Google can get Dart natively supported in at least one of IE or Safari, its going to be niche.
No native support means it will need to get compiled into Javascript just like Java does today with GWT. If people are going to learn another language that ultimately gets compiled to javascript it could as well be Ceylon :-) http://ceylon-lang.org/blog/2011/12/31/compiling-ceylon-2-js/ 


> 
> While I think this does bear watching, Dart still seems like one of
> Google's experimental projects.  It's a tall order to dethrone a run
> time environment that does work and has fended off many competitors
> for providing RIAs for many years now.
> 
> Additionally, here's a blog about how Dart was initially perceived by
> notable engineers at other browsers:
> http://xahlee.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-do-microsoft-apple-mozilla-say.html
> 
> -Simeon
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jiri Kremser" <jkremser at redhat.com>
> > To: rhq-devel at lists.fedorahosted.org
> > Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 4:18:07 AM
> > Subject: GWT @ IO
> > 
> > Hi, I've got bad news. It looks like the only presentation at
> > Google
> > IO about GWT is called "Migrating Code from GWT to Dart". What I am
> > trying to say is that it looks like there will be less and less
> > support in the long term, depending on how the Dart will be
> > successful. Unfortunately, Martin Fowler's
> > http://www.thoughtworks.com/radar has basically the same opinion.
> > There is still vibrant community and a lot of projects out there
> > built with GWT, but to me it looks like the beginning of the very
> > slow end.
> > 
> > JK
> > _______________________________________________
> > rhq-devel mailing list
> > rhq-devel at lists.fedorahosted.org
> > https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/rhq-devel
> > 
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